Madness and Reality
by EmaGreencheese
Summary: Michael Patterson is a young English psychologist who finds himself hallucinating just as his patients do. But are the hallucinations just hallucinations or is he seeing the real thing? Please review!
1. Chapter 1

Letter; Patricia Olean to Michael Patterson

My dearest Michael,

It seems an age since I've seen you. I think about you every day. Oh Michael, won't it be wonderful when we're finally wedded! Then we shall never need to be parted as long as this. With you in Greenwich and I here in London, I fear I am losing my mind in worry for you. Please tell me you are okay. Your occupation calls for such dreadful work. But you must tell me all. Tell me everything about the people you have met and the perils you have faced and when you return I will be here to support the emotions that fill your very soul.

I am very eagerly awaiting your return, for my days have dragged on with only my diary and the London times to fill my time. And when neither of the pair can satisfy my boredom I simply close my eyes and let dreams fill my mind. My dreams have been very wild as of late. I suppose it is the news articles and the awaiting of your return that are filling my head with such strange images. You were in one of my dreams. You were a bandit, trying to rob me of my most prized possessions. However I had none to give you, and as a result you were infuriated and grew swollen and red. With a mighty swing of your arm you knocked me across the room, but instead of falling violently to the ground, I gently drifted off into the open and far away from all civilization. I was soon surrounded by white mist and all else was black. In my mind I heard the singing of a young girl which, in my dream, sent me to sleep. After awaking I had to jot it all down so I could get to know my mind and my dreams. I have made this a study for me. I am to write down all unconscious thought and see if I can find a pattern. So far my dreams only appear to be random and without meaning, but hopefully I can find a common link.

I must finish writing you here, for sleep is creeping on me even now.

Yours always

Patricia


	2. Chapter 2

Letter; Michael Patterson to Patricia Olean

My Dearest and Most Beautiful Patty,

I have been very busy with my patients. The asylum here is understaffed and the patients each have unique and puzzling symptoms. My favorite patient to attend is Carmen Vandez. Vandez believes that strange and disturbing creatures are tormenting him. On my last session with him he insisted there was one in the room with us. He described it as a shadow in the shape of a human. He could not hear it or see its face and it was sitting in an awkward position in the shadows of the corner of the room. I questioned Vandez about his time since we last spoke. He desperately tried to bring the topic of our conversation back to the figure in the corner, but I insisted on hearing what he'd experienced in the last few days. After much wasted persuasion he simply shrunk back in his chair silently starring at the corner of the room. It was as if I wasn't even there at all. So I left the room and watched him from the observation window. After fifteen minutes there was no movement from him, then suddenly a look of terror shot across his face. He fell backwards on his chair and hastily started towards at the bed. As he reached the bed he turned sharply around and after a second, let out a sight of relief and retired to his bed. The hallucinations he's obviously been having, although he won't tell us fully, are a true threat to his mental progress. I will have him put on a new drug and see if much changes.

But enough about my work. Although, I can't think of much else to write about. It seems the only two things I've been doing are sleeping and working and not so much of the former. I must try to sleep now, for it is late and I have much to do in the morn.

Yours forever

Michael.


	3. Chapter 3

Michael Patterson's Diary

14 Feb

I think all the time I've spent with my patients is starting to take its toll on my drams. I dare not tell Patricia, for I would never want her to worry about me. I wish to put all I have seen in this diary so I can go over what I've seen anytime I feel so inclined.

Last night I headed to my quarters at eh asylum at around midnight. I had just finished pulling a patient off of one of the nurses. She had tried to take out his eyes with a pair of tweezers he was using to remove a splinter form the patients foot. He has not been injured apart form a superficial wound just above his nose.

As I entered my room I locked the door behind me as always, making sure no patient had escaped and entered my room as I would not care to make that same mistake again. I can recall several months back when one of my patients sprang from behind the curtains and came at me with a blade he had fashioned from several melted plastic forks. I hadn't started my diary then so I feel I need to put down what had happened.

The patient was Jarred Fox and he suffers from severe schizophrenia. He was a usual patient of mine that I must've provoked in some way, for he seemed hell bent on finding out personal information of mine. One night as I retreated to my quarters I was off guard and very drowsy. As I went to place my keys on the bench there came a seemingly nervous scream from behind the curtains and Fox came dashing towards me with a weapon at hand. He struck my shoulder and withdrew the blade for a second attempt at striking me. I obstructed his blow with my forearm and wrestled him to the ground. I managed to settle him and return him to his room. After receiving medical attention, from a distance I asked him why he wanted to cause harm to me. His reply was simply, "They told me to." When I asked him who 'they' are, I gained no reply.

I have veered too far from what happened tonight, so I must continue.

After entering my room I went through some papers as usual and ran a bath to ease my stress. As I was bathing a feeling of drowsiness came over me and I fell into a slumber. Nightmares of demons and devils were whirling around my head. I woke with a sudden jolt to find myself hot and sweating, although the bath water was ice cold. My eyes veered to the shadows on the other side of the room. There appeared to be someone dressed darkly, motionlessly staring at me. I pulled a towel from the bench beside the tub to cover myself. Still in the tub, I asked the figure who it was and why it was in my bathroom. There was no reply. I thought I must have still been dreaming, so I closed my eyes and re opened them, but he figure did not go away. It was still there, staring. As I watched in terror, it started to sway form front to back until it was almost about to tip, then suddenly I awoke at my desk, laying atop my work. I shook off the incident as just a dream. The thoughts probably came from working with Vandez, though I thought I'd write it down just in case.

15 Feb

Vandez's case is becoming very interesting. Today a nurse was sent to him after he committed self harm to his left cheek with his own fingernails. I was concerned to find the initials of my name carved in his flesh. I asked him what this all meant but he insisted it was the demons he'd been seeing that carved the letters into his skin. I later asked the night guard what they'd noticed about our troubled friend the night of the incident. The guard revealed to me that during his check up Vandez was under the covers, sleeping without a sound. The guard admitted to dozing off at some time through the night and declared that he was awakened by screams coming from Vandez's room. When he'd rushed to see what was wrong he found Vandez cowering in the corner of his room. I took note that he was in the same corner where he imagined the demon sitting in on our session the previous day.

Vandez himself could reveal nothing of the truth, but continues to talk nonsense of demons in the shadows. One remark had me quite bothered however. He whispered in a rather aggressive tone, "You of all people should believe me, take my word for it, they won't stop at me, they're coming for you."

I am going to take extra care around Vandez in future. He is showing signs of homicidal intent and I would rather like to avoid a violent outbreak.


End file.
